


and terror and the horror

by blackboxxremedy



Series: Joaquin/Kevin [5]
Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Angst, Attempted Murder, Gang Violence, M/M, Mistaken Identity, Stabbing, Ultimatums
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-21
Updated: 2017-07-21
Packaged: 2018-12-04 23:21:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 840
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11565477
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blackboxxremedy/pseuds/blackboxxremedy
Summary: Figures. He finally gets stabbed like so many of the other Serpents have been before him, and he doesn’t even really deserve it.





	and terror and the horror

Joaquin hears nothing more than a gruff voice saying a name that isn’t his, feels nothing more than a rough hand gripping his shoulder before pain consumes his entire body. The blade in his side is blindingly cold, and the warm gush of blood that follows its extraction terrifies him more than the actual stabbing itself.

In disbelief, Joaquin hits the gravel that was underneath his feet mere seconds ago, and he can still see the fog of his own breath in front of his face as shock sets in. Footsteps crunch away from him, back towards the main street at the end of the alley, and Joaquin catches a glimpse of a logo that looks very similar to a Greendale gang’s insignia. He thinks of a story he overheard in the Whyte Wyrm earlier, remembers that some drug deal between the Serpents and that same Greendale gang went bad just last night. Some new Serpent recruit fucked up with money or coke or something else that was important. Some new Serpent recruit that looks a little too much like him, now that Joaquin’s faltering mind mulls the thought over.

Figures. He finally gets stabbed like so many of the other Serpents have been before him, and he doesn’t even really deserve it.

∆ ∆ ∆

It’s more than a little surprising to Joaquin when he comes to tucked into bed, warm and dry with an IV in his arm, instead of face down in the snow with blood gushing out of his back.

It’s also more than a little surprising when he sees that Kevin is sitting next to him, hand clasping Joaquin’s tightly with that worried, scared expression that Joaquin hates seeing on his face.

“You should probably call a nurse, Preppy,” is the first thing Joaquin says to his boyfriend, and it’s not without difficulty. He’s not in pain, though, and Joaquin believes that those two things are most likely linked to one another.

Kevin’s eyes go wide, and he gasps, but it’s in this choked off way that suggests he’s trying not to cry. He doesn’t say anything though, just presses a button somewhere behind Joaquin’s head a couple of times and then settles back in his chair. The grip on Joaquin’s hand doesn’t loosen until a blonde woman in scrubs walks in, and then immediately walks out, calling for a doctor.

When the same woman returns with another, older woman in her wake, Joaquin’s poked and prodded, questioned and put through his mental paces. Kevin says nothing the entire twenty minutes that the two women are in the room, just watches Joaquin recite his pain scale ranking, his birthday, what month it is. They leave him with instructions to stay in bed, eat the food that they’ve left for him, and to call a nurse if he needs anything, a flounce of sterile blue curtain rippling behind them as they walk away.

He’s still doped up on pain meds, but Joaquin’s head is a little clearer now that he’s been awake for a while. Careful not to turn his body too much, Joaquin looks to the side, meets Kevin’s eyes. He expects his boyfriend to look worried, to say that he’s glad that Joaquin’s okay, to maybe even cry a little. But Kevin’s expression is hard and serious, and he looks like an angry, old man instead of the soft, sweet Kevin that he loves so much.

Joaquin can actually feel his heart climb into his throat.

“You have six months to get out of the Serpents,” Kevin says, voice never breaking. “And if you aren’t done with them for good by the time six months passes, you and I are through, forever. No ifs, no ands, no buts, and no conditions. Do you understand me, Joaquin?”

Joaquin blinks once, twice, and it takes his opiate-sated brain a moment to formulate a response to the ton of bricks that Kevin just threw at him.

“Kevin, it’s not-”

Kevin cuts him off, even colder than before this time. “I won’t do this shit again, Joaquin. You get out, or you lose me forever. Tell me that you love that gang more than you love me, and I’ll walk away right now, leave you to your life of drug dealing and nearly getting fucking murdered in a Southside alley without so much as a single tear shed for your criminal ass.”

In all of the time that they’ve been together, Kevin has never talked to Joaquin like that, not even when they had their worst fight. Shit, Joaquin didn’t know that Kevin even could talk like that. He wants to defend himself and say that he doesn’t deserve this, but really, he probably does. Joaquin puts Kevin through hell being in this gang. He puts himself through hell. He’s exhausted.

“I’ll be out before the summer starts,” Joaquin says quietly.

“Good,” Kevin says, but some of the anger is gone now. “Now sit your bed up and let me feed your this shitty hospital food so you can get better."

**Author's Note:**

> it's a sad one my dudes but what can i say, i live for the drama.


End file.
